


Aquarium Dates

by swanqueenfic13



Series: Little Luthor [6]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AU, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 21:13:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10421877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanqueenfic13/pseuds/swanqueenfic13
Summary: “We should do something this weekend,” Lena said one evening after they’d put Lydia to bed."What were you thinking of doing?”“The aquarium? Lydia’s been very big on animals recently and it’s a bit too cold for the zoo so I thought we could show her the animals under the sea.”Or: Lena and Kara and Lydia go on a fluffy date to the aquarium





	

After the storm passed, Lena’s car was returned, she and Lydia went home and life went back to normal. With one added bonus.

Lena started conversing with Agent Schott on an almost daily basis by phone or by text. It was often quick, Winn needing an answer about something on Lex or Lillian but sometimes they talked about her ideas for new inventions and what he’s doing as ‘tech support’ while his agent friends all run missions (though he’s careful to never discuss anything classified and Lena never asks for more). Even if they don’t talk about it, Lena likes knowing that she has a friend (sort of friend? Colleague? acquaintance?) who understands what it’s like to grow up and learn to hate the family name you once loved.

And, it turns out, Kara is friends with Winn, too. They’d met when Kara did a brief stint as a temporary receptionist at CatCo while Winn was there as an IT guy. Now, he works with Kara’s sister in the FBI. When Lena first mentioned her new tentative friendship with him, Kara had squealed so loud that Lena was  _ certain _ she heard the dog down the street start barking. (“I just love that you’re friends with my friends even without me bringing you guys together!” Kara had pouted- Lena had kissed the pout away after that). Lena and Winn started to meet up in person after that, grabbing coffee together and Kara and Lydia started coming along, too. 

It was nice, Lena thought. Before, her friend group was strictly Lydia’s babysitters and her coworkers. Now it was starting to feel like a family. It was a nice change for her. She could get used to having friends.

 

“We should do something this weekend,” Lena said one evening after they’d put Lydia to bed. Last month, Kara had started to stay over though they tended to keep things PG-13 when they couldn’t get Lucy to babysit overnight. 

Pretty soon, they’d started to develop a routine on the nights Kara would come over. She would come in time for dinner and set the table while Lena served the food. After talking about their days and whatever Lydia’s newest obsession was over dinner, they’d all retire to the living room where Lydia would play, sometimes involving Kara and Lena in her games. Sometimes, if Lydia had been particularly good or if it was a weekend, they’d put on a movie or a TV show, though sometimes Lydia would end up playing on the floor with her toys during the movie anyways. After a while, Lena would give Lydia a bath while Kara prepared everything else for bedtime- occasionally, she’d go sit in the bathroom to keep them company. Once Lydia had her pajamas on and was read a story (she alternated between asking Kara and Lena to read), the adults would go out and sit in the living room with the news on in the background. Kara would watch while Lena continued the work she hadn’t finished during the day. Lena had been bent over a stack of paperwork when she sat up and made this declaration.

“You mean, like, a date night? That could be fun! We could call Lucy or someone, I guess,” Kara replies, not really sure where this came from.

“No, well, I mean, yes that would be fun. But I meant- well, I meant- you know what, nevermind. We can do a date night, if you want,” Lena says quickly, stumbling over her words. Kara knows she’s exhausted from the way Lena’s words are starting to slur together and she’s rubbing at her temple as if she can feel a tension migraine coming on. For the past several nights, Kara would wake in the middle of the night to find Lena tinkering on some new experiment.  _ Insomnia flaring up again. Might as well be productive, _ Lena had remarked when Kara asked her about it.

“No, no, no, what did you mean?” Kara insists. Lena shrugs sheepishly.

“Well, I mean… I was thinking more like… you and me… and Lydia? Like, all three of us go somewhere. Like when Lyd and I went to the museum but you come this time. I don’t know, if you think it’s dumb we can just… just go out you and me. I can get Jess to make reservations, and-” Kara interrupts her with a gentle kiss.

“I would love to tag along on your family outing,” Kara whispers. Lena grins, feeling warmth filling her chest.

“You’re not  _ tagging along _ . You’re… Kara, I consider you part of our family. My ohana,” she adds with a small smile, remembering that  _ Lilo and Stitch _ had been one of Kara’s favorite movies.

“Ohana,” Kara repeats. 

“Yeah, this family.. We’re little… and a little broken but… Lyd and I… and you… we’re good.” Lena hadn’t meant for this to be so deep. She just wanted to take her daughter and girlfriend out this weekend. But, well, here she is.

“Yeah, still good,” Kara repeats. She pulls Lena closer to her, pushing the paperwork off to the side and hugs her close, kissing Lena’s temple. “So, what made you think of this?” Lena shrugs, settling into Kara’s side.

“One of my employees- you know Eddie?- he put in for vacation time so he could take his family to Disney World. I was just signing the approval forms and it just… It made me wanna do something like that. Not something as… big. I was thinking something a bit… smaller? We’ve just got some big corporate deals in the works right now so it’s not a good time for me to take off.”

“That’s fine,” Kara agrees. “Disney World usually takes some more time to plan, anyway. At least, for me it does. What were you thinking of doing?”

“The aquarium? Lydia’s been very big on animals recently and it’s a bit too cold for the zoo so I thought we could show her the animals under the sea.”

“That sounds perfect. Were you thinking Saturday or Sunday?”

“Saturday. There might be a storm headed our way for Sunday so I was going to try and stay in, if possible.” After the last thunderstorm fiasco, Lena had started bringing Lydia to a therapist again to help her process it. One thing she suggested was to make sure Lydia was somewhere she felt safe for the next time it stormed.

“Saturday it is. Now, are you going to keep working or do you want to come here and kiss me?” Kara teased. Lena smirked before shifting and straddling her girlfriend. Kara gasped at the sudden shift before surging up to kiss her girlfriend, taking advantage of the fact that Lydia was sound asleep down the hall.

 

“We ready for the aquarium, little missy?” Kara asks, tickling Lydia before she unbuckled her from the car seat. Lena smiled fondly, watching them as she got the bag of extra clothes and snacks (which Kara had gladly offered to carry in her backpack) from the trunk.

“Kara! No, no,” she squeals, squirming to get away from her tickling fingers.

“No? You don’t want to go to the aquarium anymore? Oh no! What are we going to do!” Kara gasps dramatically, still tickling Lydia.

“Kara, give the poor girl a break,” Lena interrupts, coming to rest one hand on Kara’s shoulder. She leans up to kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear, “you can never be too careful with a toddler’s bladder, either. I’ve made that mistake with her before.” Immediately, Kara’s fingers still and she leans forward to blow a raspberry on Lydia’s cheek before unbuckling her.

“Now are you ready to go to the aquarium?” Kara asks, helping her jump down from the car.

“Yeah!” Lydia squeals. Her long, dark hair had been twisted into two braids and she wore a Superman shirt with her blue overalls and red converse. When she had seen the outfit, Kara’s cheeks turned pink and she beamed, immediately complimenting Lydia’s style choices.

“What are the rules for the aquarium?” Lena asks.

“No running, hold your hands in the crowd, and stay where you can see me,” Lydia rattles off immediately.

“Good girl,” Lena grins, reaching down to kiss her daughter’s cheek before taking her hand and leading them towards the entrance.

“Mommy, can I go on Kara’s shoulders? I wanna see!” Lydia asked after a moment. Since it was a relatively sunny weekend day, the foot traffic was fairly heavy and poor Lydia couldn’t see past everyone else’s legs.

“Sure, as long as you hold on to her,” Lena agrees, though she’s not sure whether she’s directing that at Kara or Lydia. They step off to the side of the sidewalk for a moment while Kara stoops down and Lydia climbs onto her shoulders. She holds on to Lydia’s legs tightly and Lydia rests her hands on top of Kara’s head, making gentle fists in her hair, though Kara doesn’t seem to mind. Lena walks half a step behind Kara, ready to catch Lydia should she fall back. 

“Mommy! Mommy, look! I think I can see it! It’s blue and it’s got a fishy on it. Kara, what do the letters say?” Excited that she’s now got a visual from her new vantage point, Lydia pats Kara’s head and looks down to her mother.

“It says ‘National City Aquarium’. You’re right, Lydia! You found it! How close are we?” Kara asks with a grin. Lydia closes one eye and sticks her tongue out as she tries to figure it out.

“Seven buildings!”

“Seven buildings away?” Lena asks, not really sure what Lydia means.

“Six now! We pass six more buildings until we’re there!” Looking at the path ahead of them, Lena realizes she’s right. 

“Good job, Lyd,” Kara praises.

“Five buildings!” Lena and Kara chuckle fondly as Lydia keeps shouting the number of buildings they have left to pass until finally, with a squeal and lots of clapping, she announces, “we’re here! I wanna get down now!” Kara stoops and just as Lena’s lifting her off of Kara’s shoulders to put her on the ground, her phone starts to ring in her pocket. Once Lydia is on the ground and holding Kara’s hands, she picks it up, realizing it’s work calling.

“Jess, what are you doing at work on a Saturday?” Lena asks immediately.

_ “I’m so sorry Miss Luthor. I just came in to grab a scarf that I’d left here yesterday but it looks like someone’s broken in. Everything is trashed and computers have been smashed. I’m not sure if they took anything but there’s… there’s a lot of damage. We need to call the police and I think you should be here when they come. I’m so sorry, Miss Luthor. I know you probably had plans this weekend and-” _ Lena interrupts Jess’ frantic apologies, rubbing at her temple with one hand. Kara and Lena watch from the sidelines, Kara concerned and Lydia impatient.

“It’s not your fault, Jess. I should be there when the police come. I’ll… You call them and I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m actually in the city right now anyway,” Lena replied.

_ “Okay. Again, I’m really sorry, Miss Luthor. I don’t know how the security system didn’t alert us, but we’ll figure this out _ ,” her assistant vows.

“I’m certain we will, Jess. Thank you for calling me. I’ll see you soon,” she says tightly before hanging up. She doesn’t mean to come across as angry with Jess; it’s not her fault. Lena is just frustrated. She turns to where Kara and Lydia are waiting.

“Guys, I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid-”

“No, Mommy!” Lydia interrupts with a pout.

“Lydia, baby, there’s an emergency at Mommy’s work. I have to go fix it,” she explains gently.

“Is everything alright?” Kara asks.

“Someone broke in and we’ve been vandalized. I have to go meet the police there to file a report. I hate to just leave and cancel our trip…” She trails off, looking down to find Lydia pouting and staring at the ground.

“Maybe… I mean…” Kara lowers her voice and leans in, hoping to prevent Lydia from overhearing. “I could take her, if you want. We’re already here. It can be a Kara and Lydia bonding day until you get back?” she offers softly.

“You’d be willing to do that?” Lena asks, a little shocked. It’s not that she didn’t expect this of Kara, more that she had never had someone so willing to go above and beyond for her like this.

“Of course!” Kara replies, almost indignant that Lena would question it.

“I mean… if you’re sure…” Lena offers her one more out but Kara just nods determinedly, beaming. “Okay, well then… Lydia, you can go to the aquarium with Kara while Mommy goes into her office for a little while. I’m going to try and come meet you as soon as I can, alright?”

“Yay!” Lydia squeals, hugging her mother around the legs. “I’ll miss you Mommy, but I wanna go see the animals!”

“It’s alright, sweetheart. You have fun with Kara and Mommy will be back as soon as I can, alright? You be good and listen to Kara. If there’s any problems, you can both call me, got it?” Lena says, squatting down to hug Lydia properly. She can feel her daughter bobbing her head in agreement. After saying her goodbyes, she gives Kara the prepaid tickets and hurries back towards the car.

 

“Lydia, be gentle, see?” One of the first exhibits Kara had steered them towards was an interactive one. In a shallow pool there were little rays and mini sharks (Kara couldn’t remember exactly what kind they were, though she was sure the information was somewhere on the walls among the fun facts and voice over descriptions and interactive displays). As the creatures swam around in a lagoon-type habitat, people were invited to go up and pet them gently. Kara was demonstrating how to stroke the shark gently as it passed by. “Look, come here, bug.” She pulls Lydia onto her lap and takes her hand, guiding her to gently stroke the next ray that passes them.

“Eee! It’s slimy!” Lydia squeals. Kara laughs.

“Yeah, sea creatures are pretty slimy, usually. You wanna keep petting them or go see something else?” she asks. Lydia squirms, moves off of Kara’s lap to find herself a new perch where she can reach out further without toppling over into the water.

“I wanna pet the sharkies! They’re so  _ cute! _ ” Lydia giggles.

“Don’t lean too far, Lyd,” Kara grins. She moves slightly so that she can take a video of Lydia for Lena. She manages to get it recording just before a shark comes close enough for Lydia to pet it.

“Look! Look, Kara! He came right to me! He wants me to pet him!” Lydia squeals. Kara laughs.

“Good job, Lyd!” She rises on her haunches to show the shark in the water as it makes a quick turn and circles right back to where Lydia is waiting. “Looks like he likes you, Lyd,” Kara grins.

“He came back! He’s my friend, Kara! Is this video for Mommy? Mommy, did you see my sharky friend? I’m gonna call him Jax the shark, okay? Hi, Mommy!” Lydia beams when she sees Kara recording. She looks back to the tank to see Jax continuing to make circles and come back to her. Kara has just sent the video off to Lena when she hears Lydia go “awww.”

“What wrong, little bug?” Kara asks.

“Jax went away,” she pouts. A ray immediately swims by but she doesn’t seem as enthused.

“Maybe he wanted to go find a snack,” Kara offers. Considering this, Lydia nods.

“He went to go get a snack. Bye Jax! I’ll see you later!” She skips away and Kara stops her to wash her hands off with the disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer provided before they move on to the next exhibit.

 

“There’s so many pretty colors!” Lydia gasps softly. They had made their way to a four story giant ocean exhibit featuring hundreds of different sea creatures. They had decided to start at the top and walk along the metal walkways before making their way down slowly. Lydia walked with her eyes practically glued to the glass and Kara had to be mindful to make sure she didn’t walk into somebody. “Look! That one looks like Dory! A whole family of Dorys!” Lydia squeals, bouncing on her toes and pointing to a group of blue tangs swimming around the others.

“Good job, Lyd! You found Dory!” Lydia giggles at Kara’s joke before bounding a few feet ahead to see what else lied ahead. Kara made sure to take plenty of pictures to show Lena later.

 

“Kara, I’m hungry,” Lydia groused. They had finally made their way to the bottom of the giant ocean exhibit when Lydia’s stomach started to growl. They were now on their way to the food court, but apparently it was taking too long.

“We’re almost there, little bug,” Kara assured her. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re going to get to eat?”

“Grilled cheese!” she answered immediately. “And french fries and a chocolate milk and ice cream!” Kara raised one eyebrow.

“How about we get some juice and apple slices? If you finish the apples, we can see about dessert,” she compromises.

“No, I want ice cream,” Lydia whines. Thankfully, before she can get too cranky, they’ve reached the food court and Kara has placed their order, promising Lydia that she can have a few of Kara’s fries if she eats her apple slices, too. And of course, it helps that they cut Lydia’s grilled cheese into the shape of a fish. Once Lydia finished all of her food, no longer complaining, Kara agreed to let her get a small cone of ice cream before they went back to the exhibits. Sure, she ended up spending twenty minutes in the bathroom trying to clean the ice cream off of her (after taking a picture of the smiling, messy girl to show Lena) but it was worth it, Kara thinks.

 

The ice cream was not worth it.

The extra sugar had made the three year old hyper, running around and not listening to Kara as they made their way through the penguin habitat for nearly an hour. Kara had been forced to chase her to keep her in sight. Of course, not long after the hyperactivity, Lydia started to crash, pouting and whining and blinking sleepily. She picks the protesting, cranky toddler up and walks. Remembering Lena’s stories about their museum day, she takes Lydia towards the theater. They’re showing some movie about sea turtles and Kara thinks the dark, cool, relaxed atmosphere will help Lydia relax a bit.

“I can’t nap, not without my Chewie,” Lydia protests weakly. But her eyelids are drooping and her thumb is creeping into her mouth. Kara shifts her so that her head is still resting on Kara’s chest but she can see the screen and is comfortably sitting across her lap.

“I know you can’t. So why don’t you just rest and relax and watch the sea turtles, hmm? We can go back out there whenever you’re ready.” Lydia nods and watches the documentary for a few minutes before her eyes close and her breathing starts to slow. Kara just shifts, settling in to watch the documentary until Lydia wakes up.

 

Lena finally makes it back halfway through the documentary, texting Kara to find out where they were. She slides into the seat next to Kara and Lydia, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry it took so long,” she whispers, kissing Kara.

“It’s alright. We had some fun.” She shifts slightly to show Lena the pictures, handing her the phone. Kara watches Lena as she looks through the pictures, beaming and cooing at the images of her daughter. She can hear Lydia’s heart rate changing, her breathing picking up as she starts to wake up. Her nose twitches and she mumbles softly before opening her eyes.

“Mommy,” she gasps, immediately crawling over to embrace Lena, yawning slightly into her shoulder and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Hi, sweetheart. Did you have a nice nap?” Lena bobs her head up and down. Lena glances around, mindful of the other people.

“Is work good? Why did Miss Jess call you?” Lydia asks softly. She had met Jess plenty when she went into the office with Lena and had become quite fond of her mother’s assistant. Lena dreaded the day she had to get a new assistant for how Lydia would react.

“Jess is fine, sweetheart, thank you for asking. Now, do you wanna watch more about the turtles or do you want to go back out to the exhibits? Because if we’re going to stay in here, we should be quiet so people can pay attention,” Lena whispers.

“Wanna go out,” Lydia replies, squirming until her feet are on the ground and she’s pulling Kara and Lena back out by the hand.

 

“Five more minutes, Lyd,” Lena warns. After going back out and seeing the other exhibits, Lydia asked to go back to the shark exhibits to say goodbye to Jax. Lydia spent a few more minutes cooing at the shark that kept circling its way back to her- Lena and Kara weren’t sure it was the same one but they certainly weren’t about to tell Lydia that.

“So, how did everything at work actually go?” Kara asks softly, putting and arm around Lena’s waist and pulling her close. Lena sighs and leans into Kara.

“An associate of my family’s threatened one of my employees to give them the security codes. They broke in and trashed the place, but no one was seriously injured. Some of my projects were damaged and the papers are a mess. We need to replace all of our computers and some of the desks and tables. One door was torn off its hinges but… All in all, it could have been worse. This person could have come when people were there. Things- I can replace stuff. But I could never forgive myself if one of my employees got hurt because of me,” Lena sighs.

“I’m so sorry, Lena. I’ll help in any way I can, I promise,” Kara vows as Lydia comes bounding over, ready to head to the gift shop.

“This helps. Being here… with you and Lydia… this helps.” Kara nods, kissing the top of Lena’s head as they continue to walk. Lydia is babbling about how she  _ has _ to get a shark stuffed toy so that she can remember Jax and how she  _ needs _ a book on sea creatures for a new story. Kara is holding her close and holding Lydia’s hand. It makes Lena feel good. It makes her feel safe.

 

“No, no,  _ no! _ ” Lena moans while they’re watching the news. Lydia had fallen asleep easily, barely making it awake through her bath. Lena had been looking into ordering new computers and emailing her employees about the break in when she noticed the news headlines and helped. Kara sits up nervously. 

“What? What's wrong?” Kara asks nervously. Lena just points wordlessly to the tv where the broadcaster was talking about her. She turned up the volume slightly. 

_ “And we all know about the Luthor family and their dealings with aliens. Since the youngest Luthor child disappeared from the headlines years ago, apparently she has started her own tech company, many of their products seeming pro-alien. We can only wonder whether this attack was done by enemies of the Luthor family, friends of the infamous elder brother Lex Luthor, or indignant off-worlders. I'd always wondered what happened to the youngest Luthor after she left the family. Now we know! Keep an eye out, residents of National City!” _ Kara switches off the TV quickly, glancing at Lena's stricken face. 

“Everything I have done…” she says lowly. “Everything has been… to help keep distance between Lex’s legacy and my daughter. God, I should have just changed our names. I just… I couldn't lose the connection to my father. And now… oh god. What do I do? I want to keep her out of the spotlight, Kara. What do I do?” Lena whispers, tears coming to her eyes. 

“Make a press announcement. Ask them to give you some privacy. Offer to speak to the press more so long as they give you some space in your private life. It might not work for everyone but it can help. And if you wanna stay at my place, lay low until this all dies down and stuff, you're more than welcome.” Lena just leaned into her, sniffling. She wasn't sure if that would actually do anything but she knew Kara was only trying to help. 

“Thank you. I might take you up on that offer if the press won't cooperate. I think… I think I just want to watch some TV show that'll distract me and go to bed early. I can deal with this in the morning,” she sighs. Kara nods, switching to  _ Game of Thrones _ and pulling Lena close to her. She can't make this better so all she can do is hold her. So she does until they fall asleep on the couch. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update this series! I hope you really liked it! Please leave comments so my little gay heart can feel the validation!


End file.
